Please, YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our hearts and in the hearts of Your people, the family of Israel. May we and our offspring and the offspring of Your people, the household of Jacob – know Your Name and study Your Torah, for the sake of Your Torah- empowering us to sincerely love one another and to love You above all. Please uncover our eyes and open our hearts that we may carefully examine and understand the marvels and mysteries of Your Torah- Amein.
בֹּא –
Come
Shabbat Shalom.
When we open the Torah this week, we encounter a portion
named with a single, sharp Hebrew command: Bo (בֹּא). It means
"Come," or "Enter." Generations of commentators have looked
at this word through the lens of theology, history, and grammar. I struggled
for some time to find a meaning and reason why the scribes would call this
Torah portion ‘’bo’’. There was one thought that kept coming into my mind, but
I just couldn’t connect the dots. I kept on thinking when I was first introduced
to this word as a young man shepherding a flock of sheep in the fields of a kibbutz
that I lived and worked on for nearly a year in 1978.
Every morning, it was my job to lead about 500 sheep out
into the pastures, with the help of my faithful sheep dog who stayed with me in
my bungalow - I quickly learned that sheep do not move by force. They do not
respond to shouts, and you cannot drive them from behind like a taskmaster.
They only move for one thing: the voice of their shepherd leading them, followed
in rear of the flock by a watchful sheep dog eager and obedient to follow the
shepherds commands.
Every single day, I would walk ahead of them and call out
across the hills, repeating a rhythmic, elongated sound: "Booo-ee!
Booo-ee!"
Now, those of you who know Hebrew grammar will recognise
that "Boi" (בּוֹאִי)
is the feminine singular command for "Come." It turns out I was being
grammatically precise!
On our kibbutz, we kept meticulous records of the breeding
cycles. We purposefully left the rams behind in the pens to control the mating
schedule, meaning the flock I led into the fields was made up entirely of ewes.
When I called out "Boi," I was speaking directly, gently, to
the female flock. And because they knew and trusted my voice, they followed.
This firsthand experience completely changes how I read the
dramatic standoff between Moses and Pharaoh in this week's portion.
Pharaoh behaves like a typical tyrant. He tries to
compromise with Moses by dividing the community. First, he tells Moses to leave
the women and children behind. Moses refuses. Then, as the darkness settles
over Egypt, Pharaoh tries a different tactic. He says, “Go, worship the
Lord; only your flocks and your herds shall be left behind.”
Pharaoh thought he could control the Israelites by
controlling their livestock. But Moses, who spent forty years as a shepherd in
Midian, understood something Pharaoh never could. Moses looks at the ruler of
the greatest empire on earth and delivers a fierce, uncompromising ultimatum:
“Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof shall
be left behind... for we do not know with what we are to worship the Lord
until we arrive there.” (Exodus 10:26)
‘’my sheep are coming with me’’
As a former shepherd, I think I understand the significance what
is going on here.....
Exo
10:1 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Go
in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, so
that I show these signs of Mine before him,
Scribes and commentators often note a profound linguistic
choice in the text itself. YHVH tells Moses "Bo" (בֹּא - Come) rather than "Lech" (לֵךְ - Go).
Ancient shepherds in Israel used the exact root word “bo”
(בּוֹא) to call their sheep
-the basic vocabulary used to communicate with them has remained virtually
unchanged for thousands of years
While the English text often translates Bo as
"Go," grammatically it actually means "Come" or "Enter."
When I was calling "bo" to sheep sheep on the kibbutz, I was
using the exact same monosyllabic imperative command that has echoed through
the hills of Judea and Galilee since the days of Abraham, Moses, and David.
But by saying “come with me to Pharaoh,” YHVH was reassuring
Moses that he would not be be placing himself or his sheep in danger.
In short, “Bo” (rather than “Lech”) signals divine
accompaniment into protection from the deepest, most dangerous threat of evil and
Moses was not facing it alone.
This is the true "beginning of the end" of
Israels captors as stated in Exodus 10:7, right in the middle of the locust
plague sequence that started in Exodus 10:1.
This is the precise moment the internal structure of Egypt/anti
christs rule begins to totally fall apart. For the first time in the entire
Exodus story, Pharaoh’s own inner circle turns on him.
Up until this verse, Pharaoh and his court stood as a united
front against Moses. But after Moses delivers the warning of the locusts,
Pharaoh’s officials break protocol, panic, and confront the king directly:
"Pharaoh’s officials said to him, 'How long will
this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord
their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt/anti – christs empire is
ruined?'" (Exodus 10:7)
This is the "beginning of the end" for three
distinct reasons:
- The
Collapse of Pharaoh's Authority: Pharaoh/ anti christ was viewed as a
divine, infallible god-king. For his advisors to openly challenge his
judgment and yell that Egypt is destroyed is unprecedented. It signals
that Pharaoh has lost control of his own rule.
- The
Shift in Negotiations: Because of his officials' panic, Pharaoh is
forced to do something he has never done: he frantically brings Moses and
Aaron back before the plague even tries and negotiate a compromise
(Exodus 10:8).
- The
Point of No Return: When this desperate negotiation fails and Pharaoh
drives Moses out (Exodus 10:11), the final dominoes fall. The plagues that
follow (Darkness and Death) are no longer warnings meant to teach Pharaoh
a lesson; they are direct, devastating strikes designed to utterly crush
the empire.
While Exodus 10:1 sets the stage, Exodus 10:7 is the
exact point of no return. Once Pharaoh's own court admits defeat and
recognizes that "Egypt is ruined," the total collapse of the regime
becomes inevitable.
1. The Sudden Pivot in Pharaoh’s Attitude
Right after his officials confront him in verse 7, Pharaoh’s
psychological state shifts from arrogant defiance to frantic damage control.
- Breaking
Protocol: Usually, Pharaoh waits for a plague to hit, suffers through
it, and then begs Moses to pray for its removal. In Exodus 10:8,
for the very first time, Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron back before the
plague even begins. He is reacting entirely to the political pressure
from his panicked court.
- The
Sarcastic Trap: When Pharaoh asks, "Who exactly is
going?" and Moses demands total release, Pharaoh snaps. In verses
10–12
Exo 10:10 And he said to them, “Let יהוה be with you as I let
you and your little ones go! Watch, for evil is before your face!
Exo 10:11 “Not so! You men go now, and serve יהוה,
for that is what you desired.” And they were driven out from the presence of
Pharaoh.
Exo 10:12 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Stretch
out your hand over the land of Mitsrayim for the locusts to come upon the land
of Mitsrayim, and eat every plant of the land – all that the hail has
left.”
- The
Emotional Fracture: Pharaoh is trapped between his crumbling empire
and his pride. He tries to assert absolute dominance by having Moses and
Aaron physically driven out of his presence (Exodus 10:11). This
loss of royal composure shows his psychological grip is failing.
Once the advisors declare Egypt "ruined" in verse
7, the narrative stops trying to persuade Pharaoh. The text rushes directly
toward the middle-of-the-night chaos of the Passover in Exodus 12.
There is an exact, intentional parallel between the Exodus
story and the final judgments of Revelation. In fact, biblical scholars widely
recognise that the Book of Revelation deliberately structures its end-times
judgments to mirror the plagues of Egypt, showing a nearly identical
psychological and spiritual breakdown.
The text does exactly what you observed: it explicitly
highlights the refusal to repent multiple times
Here is how the scenario in the last days directly mirrors
the "beginning of the end" dynamic seen with Moses and Pharaoh.
1. The Three Repentance Refusals in Revelation 16
During the final Bowl Judgments, the narrative highlights
that despite cataclysmic warnings, people stubbornly refuse to repent,
mirroring Pharaoh's hardened heart across three key instances:
- The
4th Bowl (Scorching Heat): People were seared by intense heat and
cursed God, but "refused to repent and glorify him" (Revelation
16:9).
- The
5th Bowl (Darkness): People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed
God because of their sores, "but they refused to repent of what they
had done" (Revelation 16:10-11).
- The
7th Bowl (Great Hailstorm): A massive hailstorm strikes, and rather
than repenting, they continue to curse God for the severe plague
(Revelation 16:21
(Note: A similar three-fold refusal occurs earlier during
the Trumpet plagues in Revelation 9:20-21, where survivors still failed to
repent of their actions). You can find the full scriptural passages and
text details in the referenced web documents
How Revelation Mirrors the Exodus Plagues
The end-times judgments mirror the escalations of the
plagues Moses brought upon Egypt
Water to Blood: Mirrored in the 2nd and 3rd Bowls.
Festering Boils: Mirrored in the painful sores of the
1st Bowl.
Locusts / Crop Destruction: Mirrored in the scorching
heat of the 4th Bowl.
Absolute Darkness: Mirrored in the 5th Bowl plunging
the Beast's kingdom into agony.
Destructive Hail:
Mirrored in the massive hailstones of the 7th Bowl.
The "Beginning of the End" Parallel
Just as the 9th plague of darkness in Exodus marked the
point of no return and led to the final confrontation, Revelation's 5th Bowl of
darkness targets the Beast's throne. Immediately following this, the 6th angel
prepares the way to gather the nations for the final showdown at Armageddon. In
both narratives, the final judgments function to execute justice upon a system
that has permanently hardened its heart and refused repentance
The Paradox of the "Darkness" Plagues
In both texts, the plague of Darkness serves as the final
barrier before the ultimate judgment.
In Exodus 10: The darkness is so thick it can be
felt; it completely paralyzes the Egyptians while the Israelites have light in
their dwellings.
In Revelation 16: The fifth bowl brings darkness
specifically upon the throne of the beast, causing people to gnaw their tongues
in agony.
The Insight: Darkness in scripture is often the
physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. When people repeatedly reject
the light of truth, YHVH eventually grants them exactly what they chose:
absolute spiritual and physical darkness.
The Internal Collapse vs. The External Defiance
In Exodus 10:7, Pharaoh's advisors scream, "Do you
not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?" The world system is visibly
collapsing around them, yet Pharaoh doubles down. We see the exact same
psychological phenomenon in Revelation 16. The economy, the environment, and
the social order are utterly shattered, yet the text notes with almost tragic
repetition that they "cursed the name of YHVH... and refused to
repent."
The Lesson:
Hardness of heart is blind to reality. A hardened heart will
willingly ride a sinking ship all the way to the bottom of the sea rather than
humble itself and bend the knee.
The Shift from "Mitzrayim" (Egypt) to Babylon
In Jewish thought, Mitzrayim (Egypt) comes from the
root word metzar, meaning a "narrow place" or a place of
severe restriction and bondage. Revelation takes the concept of Egypt—the ultimate
superpower oppressing YHVH's people—and scales it globally into "Babylon
the Great." The plagues are not just historical events; they are the
divine blueprint for how YHVH systematically dismantles any system of
human arrogance that sets itself up against Him.
The Eighth Plague: Locusts
Exo 10:1 And יהוה
said to Mosheh, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts
of his servants, so that I show these signs of Mine before him,
Exo 10:2 and that you relate in the hearing of your
son and your son’s son what I have done in Mitsrayim, and My signs which I have
done among them. And you shall know that I am יהוה.”
Exo 10:3 And Mosheh and Aharon came in to Pharaoh
and said to him, “Thus said יהוה Elohim of the Hebrews, ‘Till when shall
you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they serve
Me.
Exo 10:4 ‘Or else, if you refuse to let My people
go, see, tomorrow I am bringing locusts within your borders.
Exo 10:5 ‘And they shall cover the surface of the
land, so that no one is able to see the land. And they shall eat the rest of
what has escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every
tree which grows up for you out of the field.
Exo 10:6 ‘And they shall fill your houses, and the
houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Mitsrites, which neither
your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were
on the earth to this day.’ ” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
Exo 10:7 And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “Till
when would this one be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they serve יהוה
their Elohim. Do you not yet know that Mitsrayim is destroyed?”
Exo 10:8 And Mosheh and Aharon were brought back to
Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve יהוה
your Elohim. Who are the ones that are going?”
Exo 10:9 And Mosheh said, “We are going with our
young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our
herds we are going, for we have a festival to יהוה.”
Exo 10:10 And he said to them, “Let יהוה
be with you as I let you and your little ones go! Watch, for evil is before
your face!
Exo 10:11 “Not so! You men go now, and serve יהוה,
for that is what you desired.” And they were driven out from the presence of
Pharaoh.
Exo 10:12 And יהוה
said to Mosheh, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Mitsrayim for the
locusts to come upon the land of Mitsrayim, and eat every plant of the land –
all that the hail has left.”
Exo 10:13 And Mosheh stretched out his rod over the
land of Mitsrayim, and יהוה brought an east wind on the land all that
day and all that night. Morning came, and the east wind brought the
locusts.
Exo 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land
of Mitsrayim and settled within all the borders of Mitsrayim, very grievous.
There had never been locusts like them before, nor would there again be like
them.
Exo 10:15 And they covered the surface of all the
land, so that the land was darkened. And they ate every plant of the land and
all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left, and no greenness was left
on the trees or on the plants of the field, in all the land of Mitsrayim.
Exo 10:16 Pharaoh then called for Mosheh and Aharon
in haste, and said, “I have sinned against יהוה
your Elohim and against you.
Exo 10:17 “And now, please forgive my sin only this
once, and pray to יהוה your Elohim, that He would only turn away
this death from me.”
Exo 10:18 And he went out from Pharaoh and prayed
to יהוה.
Exo 10:19 And יהוה
turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into
the Sea of Reeds. Not one locust was left within all the border of
Mitsrayim.
Exo 10:20 However, יהוה
strengthened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not let the children of Yisra’ěl
go.
While the literal locusts of Exodus 10 were physical insects sent to destroy Egypt's
agriculture, apocalyptic scripture uses the swarming, consuming, and
unstoppable nature of locusts as a terrifying physical metaphor for the
invasion of unclean, demonic entities
1Co
10:12 so that he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he
fall.
It perfectly
captures a pattern found in both the Exodus narrative and apocalyptic prophecy:
YHVH uses an even greater, sovereign divine darkness to blind, paralyze, and
judge the forces of spiritual darkness.
·
Targeting the Mind: They sting like
scorpions (Revelation 9), injecting the spiritual poison of hopelessness,
crushing depression, and mental torment.
·
Blocking the Light: A swarm of literal
locusts is so massive that it physically blocks out the sun, bringing an
artificial darkness over the land. Spiritually, this represents a cloud of
confusion and deception designed to make believers feel cut off from the light
of YHVH's presence.
The Divine Counter-Move: The Judgment of Blindness
When the spiritual atmosphere becomes fully saturated by
the enemy's darkness, YHVH does not just send a little light to push it back—He
often answers by unleashing a sovereign, supernatural darkness that
completely incapacitates the enemy.
We see this exact sequence in the final plagues of Egypt,
moving from the Locusts (Plague 8) directly into the Deep Darkness
(Plague 9):
·
The Paralysis of Egypt: In Exodus
10:21-23, YHVH commands a darkness so dense it "could be felt."
For three days, the Egyptians were completely paralyzed: "They did not
see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place."
·
Blinding the Sorcerers: In ancient Egypt,
the pharaoh and his magicians worshipped the Sun God, Ra. By shutting off the
physical and spiritual light of the empire, YHVH completely blinded the demonic
networks and sorceries operating through Pharaoh’s court. The enemy forces
literally could no longer see to operate, plot, or pursue.
The End-Time Blueprint: Darkness as a Shield
This same sequence plays out under the Vials of Wrath
in the Book of Revelation. When the demonic locusts and the beast's system
reach the absolute peak of their global control, YHVH strikes the very seat of
their power:
"The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the
throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People
gnawed their tongues in agony..." (Revelation 16:10)
For the global empire, this divine darkness is a
terrifying prison of confusion, panic, and judgment. But for YHVH’s people, it
operates exactly as it did in Goshen: "But all the children of Israel
had light in their dwellings" (Exodus 10:23).
While the enemy is utterly blinded and trapped by the
heavy hand of YHVH's sovereign intervention, the faithful are given a
supernatural, internal light. The very darkness meant to destroy the world
becomes a protective barrier, shutting down the operations of the demonic attackers
and preparing the saints for the final Exodus’’ – end quote
The Ninth Plague: Darkness
Exo 10:21 And יהוה
said to Mosheh, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, and let there be
darkness over the land of Mitsrayim, even a darkness which is felt.”
Exo 10:22 And Mosheh stretched out his hand toward
the heavens, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Mitsrayim for
three days.
Exo 10:23 They did not see one another, nor did
anyone rise from his place for three days, while all the children of Yisra’ěl
had light in their dwellings.
Exo 10:24 And Pharaoh called to Mosheh and said,
“Go, serve יהוה, only leave your flocks and your herds
behind. Let your little ones go with you too.”
Exo 10:25 But Mosheh said, “You yourself are to
provide us with slaughterings and ascending offerings, to prepare for יהוה
our Elohim.
Exo 10:26 “And our livestock are to go with us too,
not a hoof is to be left behind, for we have to take some of them to serve יהוה
our Elohim, and we ourselves do not know with what we are to serve יהוה
until we come there.”
Exo 10:27 However, יהוה
strengthened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not let them go.
Exo 10:28 And Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from
me! Watch yourself and see my face no more, for in the day you see my face you
die!”
Exo 10:29 And Mosheh said, “You have spoken rightly
– never again do I see your face!”
The final plague—the Death of the Firstborn—operated on an
entirely different spiritual law. For the first nine plagues, the Israelites
were protected purely by their geographic location in Goshen.
However, for the 10th plague, Goshen's borders were no
longer enough.
God instructed the Israelites that if they wanted to be
spared from the destroying angel, they had to actively perform a ritual:
slaughter a lamb, apply its blood to the doorposts of their homes, and stay
inside (Exodus 12:22). Rabbinic tradition notes that because many Israelites
had intermingled with Egyptians or adopted Egyptian idolatry over the
centuries, their geographic location could not save them from a decree of
spiritual judgment. They needed the Blood of a Lamb to establish individual,
household protection.
This Torah portion reinforces the spiritual pattern we've
traced. In the end-times framework, "Goshen" represents a state of
being in the world but not of it—a community of believers living right
under the nose of the global empire.
YHVH does not whisk His people away to a distant planet to
avoid the plagues of the world system; He allows them to sit securely in their
assigned territory while the empire falls apart around them. But as the
judgments intensify toward the final hour, spatial separation gives way to
spiritual covenant—demanding the internal, active mark of the blood of a lamb
to survive the final transition.
Every morning, when the sun rose, Egyptians believed Ra had
successfully defeated the chaos monster Apep in the underworld,
restoring Ma'at (cosmic order, justice, and balance) to the land.
Pharaoh’s primary spiritual duty as a god-king was to maintain this daily
cosmic balance.
By turning off the sun for three consecutive days, God publicly demonstrated
that Ra had been thoroughly conquered and captured. The supreme deity of
Egypt was entirely powerless against the Elohim of Israel.
Why this Fractured Pharaoh
This explains why Pharaoh completely snaps immediately after
the darkness lifts. He doesn't just reject Moses; he threatens him with
execution: "Get out of my sight! Make sure you never see my face again!
The day you see my face you will die" (Ex 10:28).
His pride had been utterly humiliated. He could no longer
hide behind his identity as a cosmic god. Stripped of his divine status, he was
reduced to a desperate, raging tyrant using the only thing he had left: raw,
physical threats of violence.
The darkness will never overcome the light.
Blessed
are you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of
truth and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH
giver of the Torah – Amein.